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Unread 27-01-2007, 19:03
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AKA: Patrick Horn
FRC #0008 (Paly Robotics - http://robotics.paly.net/)
Team Role: Programmer
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Rookie Year: 2004
Location: Palo Alto, CA
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Re: Center of Gravity

Isn't moment of inertia also important in determining whether a robot will tip over?

Even with a low center of mass, if you have large moment of inertia (having a lot of stuff far out from the center of mass...) wouldn't a robot still be prone to tipping?

As far as I know, isn't moment of inertia calculated by the square of the distance from the center of mass, so for example, a really light arm with a heavy grabber device at the end would cause the robot to have large moment of inertia, even if the center of mass is fairly low to the ground with the battery and everything.
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-Patrick Horn, Paly Robotics

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